The notification that appeared in front of Arthur was different than all others.
The normal notification that he would see were blue in color. And when he got warnings, those notifications were red in color.
But the one that he got now was dark purple in color. It was rather striking and stunned Arthur. A chill even went down his spine and a thousand thoughts flew through his mind.
'How… Already? They shouldn't have taken notice for a while…' Arthur thought while bracing himself.
>A Mysterious Presence has sensed the player<
"Another?" Arthur saw a second notification appear.
The second one was a different color too, being green this time.
>A Mysterious presence has taken interest in the player<
'Shit…' Arthur cursed internally as he saw the dark purple notification. 'It had to be this one too.'
>The Mysterious Presence reveals a part of its being<
The dark purple notification changed again turning into a swirling mist.
In Morpheus Online, one of the core parts of the game was the various deities. These deities could be of different inclinations, or alignments: being good, evil, chaotic, or neutral. These deities could bless or curse the players, depending on their actions.
They would take an interest in the players due to their actions, their quests, or any achievements they had obtained. Regardless of what it might be, most players would eventually see at least one such notification during their playtime.
Of course, for the more lucky players, these notification would appear early on.
The colors of the notification also hinted towards the alignment of the deities. Good deities had yellow notifications, Evil deities had black notifications, Neutral deities had green notifications and Chaotic deities had dark purple notifications.
'Why are the deities already acting? Even with my actions, they shouldn't have acted this quickly.' Arthur wondered.
<The Trickster who likes Plays is intrigued by the player's actions>
~Gulp~
Seeing the title that had appeared in front of him, Arthur swallowed his saliva. The deities liked to appear as mysterious presences and would present a vague title to the players instead of revealing their names entirely. They liked to test the players out, thus it was a matter of fun for them as well.
'Loki…' Arthur knew about the title very well.
After all, it was a name that could inspire fear and frustration in even the top players.
Loki wasn't just any common deity… he was a god!
One that had troubled several other gods and had still come out on top often.
In Arthur's past life, Loki was infamous for having messed up several quests and changing the quest lines.
<The Trickster who likes plays observes the player>
'Is he going to say anything?' Arthur wondered before his eyes wandered over to the other notification.
The green notification was still there and there was no change to it.
'Rather than Loki taking an interest, I would rather it be this one.' Arthur thought.
To him, a neutral deity was a lot better to handle than a chaotic one. After all, even among chaotic deities, Loki was rather unique. Even if he could offer player benefits, he could also mess them up really well if he ever wished to.
A Neutral deity though was a lot more predictable and wouldn't go back on their words easily. They were also a lot more reserved and wouldn't interfere with the players as much.
While most players preferred a good alignment deity over the others, it was actually not the best choice. Having a good deity as a patron meant that one would be targeted by the other Evil alignment and Chaotic alignment deities.
The same could be said for the Evil alignment deities, but it was a lot more difficult as it came with the additional penalty of being hunted down by most NPCs. It could also prevent the players from entering a lot of settlements.
There were risks to taking an Evil alignment deity as one's patron. And yet, there was no lack of players that had done exactly that.
A lot of the major quest lines of Morpheus Online were based on the concept of good versus evil, this the two player camps would strive to make their side the greatest.
Several thoughts continued to appear in Arthur's mind and he reckoned that the best way to behave right now was to do the same as before. If he showed different actions than normal, it might actually make Loki even more interested in him.
~Chitter~
While he was thinking about this though, the Dragon Horn Beetle let out a low sound. It walked up to Arthur and came to a stop in front of him.
"Ah… You did well." Arthur rubbed the beast's head.
~kurrrrr~
The beetle let out a pleased sound and lightly shook its body as if enjoying it. Though with a body as large as it, the movement seemed to cause the ground to tremble a bit as well.
>Would you like to give a nickname to the Dragon Horn Beetle?<
'I almost forgot about this.' Arthur saw the new prompt. "Alright, I'll name you… Brambles."
>Dragon Horn Beetle has been given the Nickname 'Brambles'<
~Kurrrrr~
>The Dragon Horn Beetle has accepted its nickname and finds it suitable<
Seeing the next notification, Arthur knew he was on the right track.
With tamed pets, it was important to keep them happy after all. This allowed the cooperation between the player and the pet to be better. It could save them many times in tough battles and more. It could also allow the player to interact with the pet wordlessly when they were close enough.
But his actions seem to have another result.
>A Mysterious presence has taken an interest in the player<
The green notification changed, making Arthur's eyes narrow.
'The neutral deity is taking an interest too?' he was a bit surprised as two deities taking interest at once was rare.
>The Mysterious presence is pleased by the Player's actions and is willing to reveal its title<
'Here it comes,' Arthur waited with bated breath as the notification turned into a swirl of green mist. A couple of seconds later it reformed and the title was presented to him.
<The Mistress of the Beasts is pleased by the Player's behavior>
'The Mistress of the beasts?' Arthur recognized this title as well.
It was another well known deity of the neutral alignment. It was also one that was somewhat befitting of Arthur's class.
<The Mistress of the Beasts notices the bloodline of a dragon in Brambles>
<The Mistress of the Beasts is surprised that a player could already tame a Draconid as a pet>
<The Mistress of the Beasts' interest in Player Arzhur has risen!>
'So that's why… it was due to Brambles…' Arthur realized. 'Artemis takes interest in the players who are good at hunting beasts, or dealing with them after all.' He thought.
The Mistress of the Beasts was none other than the Goddess known as Artemis!
Depending on what interested her in a player first, she would present a different title to them. Since Arthur had tamed Brambles as a pet, she had presented her title of Mistress of beasts.
'If I had killed a strong beast boss, she might have introduced herself as Mistress of the Hunt instead.' Arthur thought.
Many players had spent a lot of effort in finding this out. The newbies who encountered the deities were given different titles, and would only later find out that they all had the same patron.
This also showed the strength of a deity indirectly. The more titles a deity had, usually the stronger they were.
For example, in the case of Artemis, she held the titles Mistress of the Hunt, Mistress of the Beasts as well as the Goddess of the Moon!
'If it's her it'll be good for me.' Arthur thought.
But just as he was about to speak, he saw a new notification appearing.
<The Trickster who likes Plays has noticed the presence of the Mistress of the Beasts!>
<The Mistress of the Beasts scoffs at the Trickster who likes Plays and calls him a two bit clown>
<The Trickster who likes Plays laughs and teases the Mistress of the Beasts by saying she needs to get laid>
Arthur's expression quickly changed, and his lips turned into a thin line.
'What even…'
<The Mistress of the Beasts warns the Trickster who likes Plays to leave her player of interest alone>
'Good! Get him to leave!' Arthur internally rejoiced.
<The Trickster who likes Plays rolls his eyes and says if she has taken an interest in the player, so has he>
<The Mistress of the Beasts warns the Trickster who likes Plays again, and says that she'll give him a beating if he doesn't leave>
'Nice. Nice.' Arthur was liking where this was going.
<The Trickster who likes Plays says that he will only leave if the player says so>
'Huh? He's putting it on me?' Arthur got nervous once more.
<The Mistress of the Beasts is waiting for the player's answer>
New novel chapters are published on fr(e)ewebnov(e)l.com